Swarms

FOUND A HONEY BEE SWARM IN OR AROUND READING?

Call Us - Reading and District Beekeepers Association can respond !!!

A Honey Bee Swarm is quite distinct (as seen in photo below). It is often found hanging from a branch, in a hedge, on a wall, etc. You may also come across bees after they have set up home, in places such as a cavity, compost heap, roof space etc.

Regrettably - we cannot remove bees from chimneys, cavity walls etc as we are not steeplejacks or builders. Lastly if they are very high in trees we will not risk our members climbing to retrieve them.

Bumble bees, solitary bees, wasps and hornets will not swarm. To help you identify which you think you may have, take a look at the photos below. If you still think they are honey bees, please contact any of the people in the list below to arrange collection.

(Please note: bumble bees will not be collected/removed by beekeepers. Further information on bumble bees can be found on http://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/ )

This is a Honey Bee Swarm

This is a Honey Bee

This is a Bumble Bee

This is a Wasp

LOCAL HONEY BEE SWARM COLLECTORS FOR READING AND SURROUNDING AREAS

If, for some reason, you are unable to contact your local co-ordinator, please phone Jon Davey or Mike Dabbs, who will ensure the precious bees are collected and given a new home.

HONEY BEE SWARM COLLECTION An Experienced Beekeeper will always be pleased to give you advice and will arrange collection of Honey Bee Swarms, where possible.

If you experience a honey bee swarm, please call any of the local collectors above, who will endeavour to respond immediately. They will either collect the bees themselves or arrange for another registered beekeeper to collect them. We appreciate a collector may not always be available, so whilst the geographic locations are helpful, please feel free to ring any, or all of the numbers above.

Beekeepers are volunteers and as such are more interested in finding the bees a good home. They do not charge for this service, although a nice cup of tea is often very welcome! If you feel that you do wish to contribute in some way then feel free to make a small donation to 'Reading & District Beekeepers Association'. It will be gratefully received and will go towards helping to save honey bees in your local area.

Once collected, where do the bees go?

Our Collectors and volunteers are all experienced Beekeepers who give their time and expertise to carry out this delicate operation. Honey bees are precious and are treated as such. RBKA has a list of all member beekeepers who would like to receive a swarm. They may be new to beekeeping, they may have lost their bees due to adverse conditions, or they may just want to increase the size of their apiary. Once collected, the swarm will be given to one of those members, with priority given to new beekeepers who have been through a recognised training course.

We must do everything we can to protect honey bees, so finding a good home is essential. (Take a look at the Swarm Statistics page to see how well this process has been working.)